This invention relates to carrier apparatus, and particularly to infant carriers. More particularly, this invention relates to carrying handles for infant car seats.
Carrying handles are usually provided for infant car seats to make it easy for parents or other caregivers to move an infant about while the infant is seated in the car seat. Typically, such carrying handles are pivotably attached to the bassinet portion of the car seat which is designed to hold an infant. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,207,476 to Payne and 5,324,094 to Kain.
Consumers would welcome a carrying handle that could be gripped and held comfortably. Many known carrying handles for infant car seats are awkward to hold, making it difficult for users to carry infant car seats outfitted with these handles. Some carrying handles are designed so that the user's palm will face forward toward the front of the infant or rearward toward the rear of the infant seat when the user grips the handle. Other carrying handles are configured to cause the user's palm to face toward one of the side walls of the infant seat. What is needed is a carrying handle that can be adjusted by each user to provide a comfortable hand grip having an angular orientation selected by the user.
According to the present invention, a carrier apparatus comprises a container and a carrying handle unit. The carrying handle unit includes a frame coupled to the shell and a handle rotatably coupled to the frame.
In preferred embodiments, the container is an infant car seat. The frame is generally U-shaped and has a round handle support platform, a first arm, and a second arm. The first arm has one end pivotably coupled to one side of the infant car seat and another end appended to a perimeter edge of the round handle support platform. The second arm also has one end pivotably coupled to another side of the infant car seat and another end appended to the perimeter edge of the round handle support platform.
The round handle support platform is formed to include a central aperture receiving the rotatable handle. The handle includes a ring-shaped base positioned to lie and rotate in the central aperture and a straight handle grip oriented to extend across a diameter of the ring-shaped base. Advantageously, the angular orientation or position of the handle grip can be adjusted by each user simply by rotating the handle manually about an axis relative to the handle support platform. Illustratively, the handle can be rotated 360.degree. to allow the user to select the most comfortable angular position for the handle grip. Moreover, the user is able to change the orientation of the handle grip to a new angular position easily if such a change is thought to be desirable.
In addition, anti-rotation means is provided for automatically blocking rotation of the handle relative to the frame whenever a user is carrying the infant seat. The handle is mounted on the frame so that it can rotate in central aperture and move up and down in the central aperture along the axis of rotation of the handle. Illustratively, a first set of axially upwardly projecting teeth is appended to the handle and a second set of axially downwardly projecting teeth is appended to the frame.
Normally, whenever the infant car seat is at rest on a floor or the like, the first set of teeth on the ring-shaped base of the handle disengages the second set of teeth on the handle support portion of the frame to permit rotation of the handle relative to the frame. The weight of the handle causes the first set of teeth on the handle to move downwardly away from the second set of teeth on the handle support platform to disengage the anti-rotation means. Once a user grasps and lifts the handle and raises the infant car seat above the ground, the handle moves in an upward direction along its axis of rotation in the central aperture to engage the first and second sets of teeth in rotation-blocking interlocking relation so that the handle is unable to be rotated to a new angular orientation relative to the frame. Thus, the anti-rotation means is activated automatically every time a user lifts the infant seat by its grip handle.
Using a rotatable handle in accordance with the present invention, a user can easily adjust the angular orientation of the handle grip to a comfortable angular position selected by the user. Illustratively, the angular orientation of the handle grip can only be changed when the infant seat is at rest on the ground because the anti-rotation means provided between the handle and frame is actuated automatically by lifting the handle upwardly relative to the frame.
Additional objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.